Why It Matters When Women of Color Play Love Interests

I tweeted this over a month ago from The Nerds of Color handle, when I was excited about the Zendaya news and wanted to quickly hop on the celebrations. Suffice to say the tweet raised some eyebrows. The tweet fails to mention other recent castings or acknowledge the other women of color who came before them, in both film and TV. And from a feminist point of view, the inclusion of romance in a film is often considered a disservice to the female character (coughBruce/Natcough). The complex ways in which women of color are portrayed on screen is worth exploring, so let’s take a closer look at that now. How far have we come in terms of representation? And what does it mean to show a woman of color being loved?

Zendaya as Mary Jane, Clemons as Iris, & Thompson in Thor3. All playing superhero ❤️ interests. This is everything. pic.twitter.com/0gC9IO61pV

It’s easy to get down about the state of diversity in Hollywood — and to be clear, it still sucks — but the landscape of the MCU and DCEU has changed a lot in the last four years alone. Here is the current slate of women of color in upcoming major superhero films and TV shows (please note this is not meant to be a be-all and end-all list, and some have been left out because we don’t know who they’re playing yet):

As a comparison, here are the women of color with named and speaking roles in superhero films around 2011-2012:

The WOC pre 2012. Copyright Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox.

(Yes, that is Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller, and yes, she was completely wasted in Green Lantern.) As for TV, the closest we had to a woman of color around that time was Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang on Smallville, but she was written off the show in 2009.

This change in just a few years is definitely something to celebrate. Sure, some of these roles were underwhelming — looking at you, X-Men Apocalypse— and we don’t know how much screen time these newer characters will get. And as you can see, Latina and Native American women are also still woefully underrepresented. But progress is progress, and we’ve undoubtedly moved a little closer towards a comic book genre that better reflects the demographics of today.

And while it’s important that each of these women get well-written, complex story lines, it’s also important that some of them are allowed to have well-written romances too. Because here’s the thing: the way women of color are typically portrayed in media is like the Bizarro world version of how white women are portrayed. Many women cheered when characters like Katniss, Rey, and Furiosa came along because they were sick and tired of seeing (white) women relegated to being the damsel, and wanted more badass (white) women who could fight like one of the guys and who didn’t have time for primping or love.

The same cannot be said for women of color. Women of color have emphatically not been flooded with images of being treated as princesses and beloved love interests. The emotionally resilient, invulnerable, no-nonsense woman is all we are often allowed to be in media. We’re used to seeing roles where the women of color are expected to stare death and torment in the face with nary a single tear shed. We’re used to being expected to shoulder some great burden with no complaint. We often see ourselves play stoic bodyguards, hardened leaders, and calculating assassins who will do whatever it takes to survive. Rarely do women of color — particularly Black women — get to see themselves portrayed as precious, beautiful, and in need of protection. Rarely do we see films where we aren’t automatically expected to save ourselves.

This portrayal is even more stark when both a woman of color and a white woman are present in a story, because it almost always works out that the white woman is the one who ends up on a pedestal while the woman of color falls into some amalgam of the Strong Female Protagonist trope and the Strong Black Woman Who Don’t Need No Man meme. We can see these dynamics play out in the MCU and DCEU. In Suicide Squad, June Moone needs to be saved and Harley Quinn is watched over by the whole squad. Meanwhile, both Katana and Waller are barely acknowledged as women and have to fend for themselves, with many of the characters visibly disgusted that they ended up having to save Waller. (Yes, I understand it was a plot point, but also understand how race and gender dynamics make that come off a certain way.)

In Daredevil,Karen Page is most often protected by the men of Hell’s Kitchen while Elektra and Claire are expected to be tougher. X-Men: Apocalypse focuses on the personal development of Mystique and Jean Grey while both Storm and Psylocke are mostly one-dimensional. Captain America: Civil War has fully rendered women like Natasha, Wanda, and Sharon, while the only woman of color who stands out is the “Move, or you will be moved” Dora Milaje. And as Nichole Perkins at Buzzfeed mentions about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in an article about the Strong Black Woman trope:

In a recent episode, a former operative — a Black woman — required eye surgery. Unfortunately, she could only receive a local anesthesia, leaving her awake throughout the procedure. A current S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, already a bit squeamish, hesitated to insert a needle into her eye, so the patient did it herself, unflinchingly, with no reaction.

And we’ve also seen this dynamic play out elsewhere. The director of the 2011 film Drive ended up casting white Carey Mulligan as the Latina main character because according to him, she came off as someone who needed to be protected… unlike all the Latina actresses they screened that day. Sleepy Hollow was a show that routinely had Abbie Mills — the main Black woman — sacrifice her time, safety, and ultimately her life in order to protect the white Ichabod Crane and his white love interests. Michelle Rodriguez’s no-nonsense character in Avatar sacrifices herself to save Jake and the others. Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter films was played by two different Black actresses up until the sixth film, where she was recast as a white woman so she could have a romance with Ron Weasley.

And these troubling race dynamics seep into fandom as well. BrOTPs — a term used to described the ultimate platonic friendship — are often ascribed to any relationship that involves a woman of color. The purpose of the brOTP is often for white fans to emphasize how out of the questiona romantic relationship is between the white male protagonist and the woman of color because they are such good friends. The aforementioned Abbie/Ichabod and even Michonne/Rick from The Walking Dead were defended as strictly platonic brOTPs (despite both shows painting both couples as perfect matches, and in Sleepy Hollow‘s case, basically soul-mates), as are Joan/Sherlock and Mako/Raleigh. (As an Asian woman, I can tell you that not giving Mako Mori a romance in Pacific Rim did not feel nearly as revolutionary as a lot of [white] feminists claimed it was, since I can count the number of films featuring non-fetishized, well-written romances featuring an Asian woman on one hand.) Some fans claim that Uhura/Spock is a disservice to Uhura, and while I agree she could be given more character development, they often fail to see how showing a popular character like Spock pining for Uhura is also a huge deal.

Spock and Uhura in Star Trek. Copyright Paramount Pictures.

And just to make sure I’m being explicitly clear: while all women of color get the short end of the stick compared to white women, the pushback about showing a romance, particularly an interracial one, is 100% more vocal and vitriolic when the woman is Black. The reason Candice Patton’s Iris West and Zendaya’s Mary Jane are vitally important is because of how often media and fandom treat Black women as unworthy of love, respect, and protection.

As long as vulnerability and softness are the basis for acceptable femininity (and acceptable femininity is a requirement for a woman’s life to have value), women who are perpetually framed, because of their race, as supernaturally indestructible will not be viewed with regard.

So yes, while Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is certainly more than just Thor’s love interest — and while she’s a kickass warrior goddess — would it also be so bad to show Thor pining for her too? When you’re somebody who’s routinely represented on screen in a variety of ways, I think it’s difficult to understand how much it means to see someone who looks like you be on the receiving end of a simple act like a gently cupped cheek or a kissed shoulder.

Iris and Barry on The Flash. Gif by @candicanesunited. Copyright The CW.

And of course there are aspects to these castings that we can definitely talk about. We can look at the fact that, with the exception of Nakia, all of these women are paired with white men. That issue stems entirely from the fact that a majority of the leading superheroes we have right now are played by white actors. The solution to that is one you all know Nerds of Color has been advocating for since it’s inception: cast more people of color in superhero roles that were originally written as white, and start including canonically non-white superheroes into the fold. Based on the current slate of planned movies and shows, we know this is unlikely to happen any sooner than 2020. I hear the concerns that having the love interest be a white man might play into the white savior narrative. I saw the hot tragic mess that was the 2013 The Wolverine. I hear ya. But for now this is what we’ve got.

We can also look at issues of colorism: the women who we know have been cast to play love interests are predominantly lighter-skinned. Meanwhile, dark-skinned Danai Gurira is likely just playing a Dora Milaje in Black Panther, while Lupita’s Nakia in the comics is a Dora Milaje whose psychotic obsession with marrying T’Challa turns her into a villain by the name of Malice. And Viola Davis’ Waller in Suicide Squad is certainly the embodiment of the Strong Black Woman trope. Sure, that’s who Waller is in the comics and Davis’ portrayal was great, but it’s hard not to see a pattern here. I can only hope the Black Panther team sees how problematic Nakia’s original story is and subverts that. I think we can all agree we’d love to see Lupita fighting alongside the Avengers rather than against them.

As it all stands, I remain cautiously optimistic about the upcoming films and shows. These castings and roles are huge, and I hope we continue to see more diverse castings. We’ll have to see how it pans out for some of these newer characters. I can only hope the writers do right by them.

22 comments

really not going to count our israeli princess Gal Gadot? ok….
its great to have women of color as love interest, i just dont get why for the majority of these roles the man is a white guy. can we get some love for poc kings? just saying

I agree with everything in this article! ^^
The stakes for Heroine of Color are different.We cannot compare their issues with those of White female characters.
I do not watch Agent of Shield, but the eye- surgery part is not ok on anyone. I keep wondering if those TV execs understand the impact their show has on the culture? DC & Marvel are in a (unique) position to provide change, for the better.
I also didn’t know that Martin Luther King, Jr. asked Nichelle Nichols to continue playing Uhura on Star Trek , that so touching.
DCEU and MCU came a long way in term of diversity. but like you said i doesn’t erase some glaring issues. Colorism, white-centered story, and white-washing for instance, are some things I expected not to see in the 2020’s

Spock with Uhura is against the ST Canon on many levels, but that illustrates the ignorance of JJ Abrams. It would have been more canon authentic had the paired Kirk with Uhura, but oh no they could not do that and risk alienating white audiences and all those box office dollars. NO! (sarcasm)

Hollywood has spent os many decades reinforcing so many stereotypes about non-white people that it can be difficult to grasp all the things they’re getting right and wrong in a movie. For everything they get right, they still get more than enough stuff wrong, too.

I will be glad to see more intra-racial pairings on TV, and in movies, though. That will only happen will Hollywood makes more movies about heroes of other races, I think.

FOX did not know how to handle the obvious chemistry between Ichabod and Abby so their resolution? Bring back the idiotic wife, Katrina and then put Abby in a realm herself and then finally kill her off altogether. Ichy never had as much chemistry with anyone except with Abby and that includes Katrina and Betsy Ross, etc.

I did like how they had the Latin guy be Abby’s ex. And then you know they had Abby’s sis hook up with the straight up white dude, or was it two?

At any rate, I loved the first season of Sleepy Hollow but they ruined the chemistry, so i jettiisoned season 2 and beyond, is it even returning?

Thanks for this post and catalogue of the increasing number of Women of Color playing love interests. Like you, I’m also cautiously optimistic, and hope that the future brings further diversity.

One thing that bugged me: “As for TV, the closest we had to a woman of color around that time was Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang on Smallville, but she was written off the show in 2009.” That line is erasing Kristin Kreuk’s racial background as something that’s aaaaalmost there but not quite good enough. I have a similar racial background, and as someone who’s struggled with racial identity my entire life, made to feel as though I don’t fit in anywhere, that line really made me cringe.

Hi! I’m the author of this piece and like Kreuk I am biracially Asian. I didn’t mean to imply she didn’t count as a WOC. “The closest we had” was meant to refer to her being written off the show years earlier than the 2011-2012 dates I mentioned, but I agree I could’ve worded that a lot better

Great article and I feel that this has taken too long to start happening (I guess better than ever), the world is evolving and even though I’m glad that Hollywood is getting on the right path, I hope this is just the beginning and representation is so important. Interracial relationship in any form is a step to unification.

I appreciated this post because I’m a black woman. I appreciated this post all the more because a black woman didn’t write it; it was another woman of colour that saw this problem and felt the need to address it. Thank you and well done. Personally, I felt the need to be the “strong black woman”, and it left me depressed and lonely. Opening up and embracing a softer and more feminine me has benefitted me overall. I feel like an unhealthy message is being sent out to black women when it comes to how we should be, and how people should see us.

This whole movement for media representation is still fairly new to me. In that, I never really thought about it until I started blogging two years ago. Although I’ve been around comics and things my entire life. And what I find most interesting about it are the people driving the point home. This community of voices is powerful.

I love this ongoing discussion on WOC as love interests and Iris is one of the main reason I stan for The Flash so hard.

This sentence says it all and I couldn’t agree more:
“As long as vulnerability and softness are the basis for acceptable femininity (and acceptable femininity is a requirement for a woman’s life to have value), women who are perpetually framed, because of their race, as supernaturally indestructible will not be viewed with regard.”

Hello, I’m Karis Watie and I host an online webshow called Vocal Vixens. The show is a platform to give women of color on television the spotlight they deserve. We are currently in a series called “Walking the Tight Trope” where we discuss popular character tropes and how they affect WOC characters onscreen. Our upcoming episode features some of the topics touched on in your well written and thorough article. I was wondering if you’d like to be a guest on the show to speak about it?

I mean representation is good and all… but at the end of the day all of them bow down to the ‘white male savior’ trope. So… is that a good thing that the message spoken loud and clear by Hollywood is “White males are the greatest”?

Re: Elementary — I think Joan and Sherlock are one of those pairings that I feel more comfort about being platonic (their chemistry is not sexual/romantic, but very very strong in a platonic way). Being an Asian woman, I’m really particular about Asian women/White male romantic pairings are portrayed (on any other show, they would have pulled the would they/won’t they scenario with this type of pairing and people were assuming they were going to pair them off romantically so I’m glad still after 4 seasons the showrunner have been sticking to their guns on that they aren’t going to hook up.)